Homoeopathy or homoeotherapy – call it what you will – isnt quite in the same class, because even here it has always retained some teachers and disciples; but for long they have been eyed askance as quacks and cranks, or something little better. Today they look to be gaining prestige, and are certainly gaining adherents, from the results of research by no less objective and authoritative a body than the Boyd Institute of Medical Research at Glasgow.
The knowledge, that we get, about a particular drug, from books of materia medica is incomplete and we must always supplement our basic knowledge, by going through the different Case – reports published in different magazines and journals, and should ourselves publish our own successes and failures with different drugs, thereby interchanging our own experiences.
Strangely enough the homoeopathic physician is often accused by his allopathic critic in his ignorance of Homoeopathy, of merely treating symptoms, whereas it is the critic himself who practices this superficial medicine. The homoeopathic physician, on the other hand, treats his patient as a whole through his symptoms and their modifications through changes in the environment, which is quite a different matter.
In discussing this matter with Mr. L.N. Hampton of the Bell Telephone Laboratories of New York City, I asked how many different vibrations there would be in the human range, and his reply was “Oh, just billions, and billions and billions, and more billions after that.” Further discussion of this matter with Mr. S.S. Knight brought out the explanation of the action of the homoeopathic potency in the treatment of the sick on the basis of physics.
In this connection we request our readers to go through two memorable books of G.B. Shaw, viz., Doctors Dilemma and Doctors Delusions. On perusal of those writings it will be easily evident that the claim of reducing the mortality and preventing incidence of Small – pox infection, solely by the introduction and use of cow – lymph, is wholly unwarranted and certainly debatable.
In most of these cases there already has been nerve involvement caused by the encroachment on the surrounding structures and it is here that we run into recurrent nerve paralysis. There is practically no tendency for this disease to recur after thyroidectomy. However, following operation, myxedema is very apt to occur and of occur the patient must then be kept on thyroid hormone.